Former State Representative Marty Seifert launches his campaign for governor Thursday with stops in Marshall, Saint Paul, and Mankato.

The former House minority leader joins a rapidly-growing field of Republicans vying for the governor’s office.

Seifert ran for governor in 2010 but did not win Republicans’ endorsement at their state convention. The candidate who did, Tom Emmer, narrowly lost to Democrat Mark Dayton. Emmer is now running for Congress in Minnesota’s Sixth District, as is Seifert’s 2010 lieutenant governor running mate, Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah.